Lori Lightfoot vs. Ted Cruz on Chicago’s gun epidemic

After Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told Ted Cruz to “keep our name out of your mouth,” the Texas Republican took to Twitter and absolutely eviscerated her on her own city’s murder rate and failure to prosecute gun crimes:

1/x Mayor, your anger is misplaced. Virtually every year, Chicago has the most murders of any city in America. In 2017, the top five were: Chicago (650 murders), Baltimore (343), Philadelphia (317), New York (290), and Los Angeles (286). https://t.co/JYsaYcxgSFhttps://t.co/wcFc4MflzV

2/x All five of those cities have had Democratic mayors for decades and aggressive gun control policies—none seems to be working. Your explanation (“blame Indiana!”) doesn’t hold water. There are 27 states with GOP governors. Chicago is not alone in having neighboring red states.

3/x But Chicago’s murder totals are often DOUBLE the next closest city. So how do you explain the big cities in red states, without aggressive gun control laws, where murder rates are MUCH lower than Chicago?

4/x Maybe, rather than getting angry when others point out the tragically high murder rate in Chicago, you put aside the partisan talking points & the failed gun-control policies Chicago has pursued for decades. Instead, lock up the violent criminals who are committing murder…

5/x …PREVENT felons & fugitives from illegally buying firearms, and ALLOW law-abiding citizens (who are right now obeying Chicago’s prohibition) to exercise their constitutional right to protect their own lives and their families.

2)If you want to come to Chicago and learn about the root causes of gun violence, I’ll be glad to show you around & we can have that convo. But enough with this dishonest use of our city as a cheap symbol to cover for the @gop’s unwillingness to protect their constituents.

Mayor, the most significant “root cause” is that criminals have all the guns. One place to start is not releasing back to the public, but rather locking up violent, repeat offenders before they murder again: https://t.co/U2Hyn0CSiHhttps://t.co/v7PLn0ICnc